Word Origin & History

leitmotif 1876, "a musical figure to which some definite meaning is attached," from Ger. Leitmotiv, lit. "lead motive," from leiten "to lead" + Motiv "motive." A term associated with Wagnerian musical drama, though the thing itself is at least as old as Mozart. "The leitmotif must be characteristic of the person or thing it is intended to represent." ["Elson's Music Dictionary"]

Example Sentences for leitmotifs

Leitmotifs are used freely, though less systematically than in the later Wagnerian music-dramas.

Blackbirds, overheard year by year, do not compose the same phrases; never two leitmotifs alike.